1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to spill containment systems, and more particularly, pertains to deployable devices for confining cargo leaking from watercraft, such as for example, oil escaping from a damaged tanker.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A certain amount of risk of spillage is always associated with the transport of cargo by ships across bodies of water. Spillage sometimes occurs during off-loading and on-loading operations or while a vessel is underway as a result of damage incurred in a collision or due to running aground. Such spillage can have catastrophic consequences when the spilled cargo is hazardous, especially when large quantities thereof stand to be lost. The environmental impact is devastating when a supertanker spills a load of crude oil near an ecologically sensitive coastline.
Various systems have been devised to prevent or minimize spillage, contain spillage, recover spillage, and/or treat spillage. None provide an effective and economically feasible means to reduce the environmental impact to an acceptable level. The magnitude of effort required to recover or treat an uncontained spill defies solution while the logistical impossibility of addressing all possible contingencies renders absolute prevention similarly unattainable. Efforts directed to containment or confinement would therefore appear to offer the most potential as an effective and feasible solution. However, no systems have been disclosed that are capable of positively containing a spill, are quickly and easily deployed and are readily implemented on an industry-wide basis in a relatively economical fashion.
The system currently most often relied upon requires the placement of floating booms around the perimeter of a spill. While this may be effective to prevent a film or a thin layer of oil from spreading, it is physically impossible for such a system to contain a significant volume of spillage. Although oil floats on water, it freely passes underneath such a boom once sufficient oil is present to float the boom. Additionally, rough water can easily cause oil to be pushed underneath or thrown over such a containment system. The fitment of a curtain-like structure extending a short distance below floating boom does enhance the efficacy of such a system but nonetheless fails to provide a positive containment system.